Getting Women Online: Visions

Here’s what I’d like to see, in terms of getting women online. If I was an Official Funder, or had lottery winnings to put into this, here’s what I’d want done:

Incentives (tax, PR, whatever) for businesses to donate their old computers to women’s organisations.

Lots of money for establishing and maintaining freenets, with a goodly chunk of it earmarked specifically for women to train women.

Public access terminals in libraries, schools, and universities, with some kind of setup so individual users have privacy, and women trainers/teachers available to help women.

Handouts, guides, articles, how-to manuals written by women for women, distributed for free.

Mentoring/sistering programs designed and run by women for women.

Less emphasis on volunteers (who are already doing loads of valuable work) and more emphasis on getting funding for these women to earn a decent living at getting other women online.

Girl-only computer and science classes right up to the end of high school.

Women-only computer labs in colleges and universities, with full-time female staff for teaching and support.

More emphasis on teaching girls and young women to be media-savvy, rather than desperately trying to protect them from the unpleasantness of the Internet and the world in general.

Less campaigns geared toward women about "all the pretty pictures" and "all the shopping" online, and more emphasis on the possibility for connections between individuals and organisations.

Recognition and financial support for the efforts of women’s organisations to get online.

Support for efforts to put out online information in both official languages, as well as any other relevant languages.

Free web server space (hosting) for non-profit women’s organisations.

Tax breaks for women’s organisations and women’s businesses in their online efforts. Maybe some kind of environmental tax break? I know I’ve saved a small forest in paper, envelopes, and stamps over the last six years, just by using e-mail.

Recognition of the fact that networking and communication and dissemination of information are more important than just making a buck.

Strict guidelines for Internet providers about tracking down and dealing with harassers.

An emphasis on women teaching/helping/training women. Funding for small classes, team-teaching, facilities. "Each one teach one"

An understanding that child care is essential, that transportation can be an issue, that scheduling must be flexible, that trainers must also be paid for the time they spend preparing for their sessions.

And so forth. These are just some of the things I’d like to see happen.

In The Netherlands, they’re considering a program to give an Internet-access computer to all welfare recipients (the majority of whom are women) in order to help them with job searches, education, etc. I’m not sure of the current status of that program, but it seems like a very good idea. On the other hand, who’s going to teach all these women how to use the Internet, if they don’t already know how?

fullmoon@euronet.nl